Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 – 9 May 1993) was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays. She was one of the first non-Arabs known to travel through the southern Arabian Desert in modern times.
Wendell Phillips (1921 – December 4, 1975) was an American archaeologist and oil magnate who led some of the first archaeological expeditions in the areas that are part of modern-day Yemen and Oman. Excavating primarily in the 1950s, Phillips unearthed artifacts from the ancient kingdom of Sabaʾ. He was famous in the United States for his dashing style and adventurous stories, leading to his nickname, "America's Lawrence of Arabia".
Following his archaeological career, Phillips acquired oil concessions in Oman, Venezuela, South Korea, Indonesia, and other countries, which made him the largest individual holder of oil rights in the world, and gave him a net worth of $120 million.